A protester wears a yoke with oversized tea bags hanging from it during an anti-health care reform rally in San Francisco. (Getty Images)

(Newser)
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Democratic attacks on the Tea Party movement show they're scared, and with good reason, writes Karl Rove. With public opinion still against ObamaCare, the movement needs to keep its momentum going, Rove urges in the Wall Street Journal. He suggests tea partiers sign a "citizen's pledge" demanding to know where their House and Senate candidates stand on health care and spending, to vote accordingly, and to make a list of at least a dozen others they will approach to take the pledge.

The movement needs to distance itself from the "birthers" and other cranks, and to ensure it has a positive agenda instead of merely surfing discontent with the Obama administration, Rove writes. Politicians, meanwhile, need to offer solid and heartfelt solutions if they want to win over the tea party backers. "Tea party members may be new to politics, but they have a keen instinct for what's authentic," he writes. "Attempts to pander will fall flat."